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The Mystery of The Longyou Caves

In 1992, a strangely curious
man named Wu Anai, near the Chinese village of Shiyan Beicun in Longyou
County, based on a hunch, began to pump water out of a pond in his
village. Anai believed the pond was not natural, nor was it infinitely
deep as the local lore went, and he decided to prove it. He convinced
some of his villagers and together they bought a water pump and began to
siphon water out of the pond. After 17 days of pumping, the water level
fell enough to reveal the flooded entrance to an ancient, man-made
cave, confirming Anai’s suspicion.
This cave, now called the
Longyou Caves, represent one of the largest underground excavation made
during ancient times. A total of 24 hand-dug caves were eventually
discovered, each with an average floor area of a thousand square meters
and ceilings that reaches heights of up to 30 meters. The total area
covered by all the caves exceeds 30,000 square meters.
Photo credit: Tripadvisor
We
know the caves are not natural because the interior walls are covered
with chisel marks. The chiseling was also done in a such a way so as to
leave a uniform patterns of parallel grooves which some people believe
is symbolic. The markings are similar to those found on pottery housed
in a nearby museum, which is dated between 500 and 800 BC. There are
also staircases, pillars and exquisitely carved figures.
According
to some estimate the caves were dug more than 2000 years ago, possibly
in 200 BCE. A rough estimate reveals that nearly a million cubic meters
of rock were removed to create the caves. A project so large would
surely have been mentioned by historians and travelers, but no documents
whatsoever have been found, which is especially odd considering the
ancient Chinese were meticulous record-keepers.
However, one
cannot rule out the possibility that the ancient cave builders were
simply enlarging an existing natural cave which would explain a lot of
things, such as how they were constructed and what happened to the
excavated rocks. Nevertheless, the excavation of the caves were a
monumental project executed by man and will continue to be an enduring
mystery.
Grooves on the walls and ceilings. Photo credit: tinfoilhatlady.com
Photo credit: Tripadvisor
Photo credit: tinfoilhatlady.com
Photo credit: Tripadvisor
Sources: China Culture / Ancient Wisdom / Ancient Origins / Wikipedia
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The Mystery of The Longyou Caves
Reviewed by photofun4ucom
on
July 08, 2017
Rating: 5